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Triple Draw:
"You guys are little kids," said David Benyamine with a laugh. "This is where the action is. Limp on the button and take four." That's what Benyamine did in a four-way pot on the first draw: limp and then take four.
"I have a good feeling about this hand too," said Benyamine. But no dice -- he had to fold his hand to a bet and a raise in front of him.
Pot-Limit Omaha:
In middle position, Michael Binger opened a can of worms with a standard raise. Nick Schulman made the smooth call in the cutoff, and Doyle Brunson came along from the small blind. In the big, though, Mike Watson squeezed the table up to 6,000. Binger and Schulman quickly called, but it wasn't getting through Dolly that easy. Brunson came right back with a four-bet to 30,000, and only Watson called that reraise, heading off to the flop heads-up.
The dealer spread out 
, and a continuation bet of 70,000 was easily enough for Doyle to take down the pot right there. He's worked his stack to about 190,000.
You're not going to find a guy in a bunny suit or dressed like a nun in the $50,000 Players' Championship (unless they lost a substantial prop bet) and for the most part, this field has kept it tasteful when it comes to fashion. There is currently only about a 7 to 1 ratio of players to Ed Hardy shirts, a number that is unfortunately sure to multiply in the coming days.
As we noted earlier, Phil Hellmuth is wearing a lime green polo shirt underneath his usual black jacket. According to our sources, Hellmuth was encouraged to wear the color not by his life coach, but by his recently hired feng-shui expert. Seriously.
Dario Minieri is gaga for Gucci and is donning a brown v-neck sweater covered in the Gucci logo. Also loving logoed designer-wear is Big Game regular David Oppenheim, whose head is covered in a black wool Louis Vuitton beanie.
Jeff Lisandro surprised us, donning a subtle-for-him black button-down with a white embroidered dragon graphic on one side. Justin "Boosted J" Smith, however might want to consider ditching his puffy black bomber jacket-- the material is just a little too "Hefty bag" for us.
Pot-Limit Omaha:
Eli Elezra limped in from under-the-gun, Alex Kostritsyn raised to 2,300, Ted Forrest called from the cutoff and Mike Matusow called from the big blind. Matusow led out for 9,500 on the 
flop, Elezra called, and both Kostritsyn and Forrest folded. Both players checked the 
on the turn. The river was the 
and Matusow took a shot at the pot, betting 12,700. Elezra called, turning over 
for sixes full. Matusow could only show 
for top pair and a busted wrap draw and Elezra took down the pot. He's up to 177,000 while Matusow fell to 110,000.
Table 310 just switched to 2-7 Triple Draw, and two players simultaneously stood up from the table and meandered to the rail, and they weren't the two early-position players that are forced to skip each hand. One of the stander-uppers was Tad Jurgens, and someone on the ropes engaged him in some quick banter. "What's the matter?" asked the spectator. "Not a good deuce-to-seven player?"
Jurgens' response was a quick one: "Not against these players."
Limit Hold'em:
The rhythm of bets and raises is what really defines limit hold'em. In a hand at Table 333, the bettors and raisers were Scotty Nguyen and David Benyamine. Nguyen opened pre-flop under the gun for a raise before Benyamine re-raised the button. Nguyen called.
The flop came down 
. Nguyen checked, then check-raised Benyamine's bet. Benyamine called there, and called another bet on the 
turn. At the river , Nguyen slowed down with a check. He called Benyamine's last bet, then mucked when Benyamine showed a set of aces, 
.
"If I raise, I lose you, right?" Benyamine asked after the hand.
"Right, baby."
Benyamine is up to 155,000. Nguyen is back to the starting stack of 150,000.
Two players that have entered the $50,000 Players' Championship every year since its inception in 2006 are missing from the field this evening-- Howard Lederer and Chris Ferguson. They still have until the end of the dinner break to get in on the action, but something tells us that they won't be here this year.
Pot-Limit Omaha:
Earlier we were discussing on media row what it would take for the first player to bust. I predicted the bust-out would come in PLO rather than in NLHE. Not to pat myself on the back, but...
Dan Shak and Dan Kelly went to war on a flop of 
. Shak checked, then check-raised Kelly's bet of 10,800 to 40,000. Kelly responded by moving all in and Shak quickly called. It was the first all in of the day.
Shak: , a set of nines, draw to a full house
Kelly: 
, a queen-high straight, draw to higher straights and a flush
Shak needed a board pair but didn't get it. The turn and river rolled out and .
When the stacks were counted down, Shak had Kelly covered by just 1,100 chips. Those chips went into a pot a short time later and didn't come back out in Shak's direction. He is the first player eliminated today.
Seven-Card Stud:
A player in early position brought it in with the , and Tony G made the call. Todd Brunson made it two bets to go, and both the bringer-in and Tony G matched the bet to see fourth street.
Bring-in: (X) (X) 
(X)
Tony G: (X) (X) 
(X)
Brunson: (X) (X) 
(X)
On fourth and fifth streets, Brunson was doing the betting with both opponents calling at both times. On sixth, another Brunson bet folded the bring-in player, but Tony G called once again. He and Brunson checked it down on seventh street.
Brunson revealed ( 
) for tens up, and it was good. Guoga's down cards (
) gave him the inferior fives over fours, and he has slipped to about 110,000. Brunson is back to his starting stack of 150,000.
2-7 Triple Draw:
Daniel Alaei opened for a raise, Ted Forrest called and Alex Kostritsyn called from the big blind. Kostritsyn and Alaei each drew two while Forrest drew one. The action checked around to Forrest who bet out. Kostritsyn folded and Alaei called. Alaei drew two again and Forrest drew one. Alaei checked, Forrest bet, Alaei raised and Forrest called. Alaei rapped pat and Forrest drew one. Forrest check-called one more bet, but Alaei had him, turning over 7-6-4-3-2 for the second nuts.
Alaei is up to 185,000.
